


It Has to End This Way

by WritingYay



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Angst, Angst heavy, Chas is a good Mum, End of an era, Flashback, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Leaving, M/M, Other, Sadness, fiances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-21
Updated: 2017-07-21
Packaged: 2018-12-05 00:57:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,494
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11566989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WritingYay/pseuds/WritingYay
Summary: Chas still hears laughter from her son's room. It's not real though, everything's changed.Sometimes, leaving the ghosts behind is the hardest thing to do.





	It Has to End This Way

Aaron stirred gently and cracked open his eyelids with a stifled yawn. It was rather bright outside- bright for November anyway- with a crisp look to the air and birds singing from outside. He grinned and stretched languidly in bed; being careful not to jostle Robert awake. 

The other man was still deep asleep beside him, looking more angelic than ever. He had his ankles entwined with Aaron's calves and his eyelids were softly flickering with dreams. An unexpected thrill of contentment washed through Aaron's gut. Robert's left hand was splayed out on his pillow next to his face, his silver engagement ring glinting in the light. Quietly, Aaron reached out to cover Robert's hand with his own; palm to palm, fingers to fingers.

He stayed like that for another half an hour before Robert's breaths lightened until he was blinking sleepily with a groan. His eyes narrowed in confusion at Aaron's very awake, soft smile staring straight at him.

"It's creepy to watch people sleep you know, Dingle." 

Aaron snorted and shrugged. 

"The bed is warm. Forgive me for not wanting to get out and freeze my arse off." 

A chuckle escaped from Robert's throat as he burrowed deeper into their duvet cocoon. His dazzling blue eyed danced as the two men gazed at each other.

"Hey." He whispered hoarsely and squeezed Aaron's fingers.

"Hi." Aaron replied and shifted so his head was resting on the overlap of their two pillows.

"What time is it?" 

"About half eight." Aaron muttered. "Bloody early." 

Robert scoffed. "It's Saturday!" 

Aaron raised his eyebrows. "And your point is?" 

"Weekends are the only days we actually get to spend time together; let's not waste it in here." Robert said with a sigh. "Come on." 

"You do know we're not married yet right?" Aaron teased, rubbing the ring on Robert's finger with the pad of his thumb.

"Yes." Robert grinned. "So I'm asking you nicely as my darling fiancé." 

Aaron looked away from Robert's huge grin with hot cheeks. 

"Soft lad." 

Aaron caught his fiancé's elbow as he moved to turn over and pulled him back so the older man was flat on the bed. With a small squawk of indignation, Robert's breath caught in his throat as Aaron rose to lean over him. Aaron smiled into Robert's lips when he swooped down as they melted together like candles.

"Stay." Aaron murmured when Robert was breathless.

"Mmmm." Robert sighed and slipped a hand down Aaron's side to rest it in the small of his back. "As tempting as that sounds, I actually did promise Vic we'd chat with her about the wedding today." 

Aaron groaned with defeat as he dropped back down in bed to let Robert crawl out.

"Of course you did." 

"Hey." A t-shirt slipped over Robert's talking head. "She might even finally reveal to us what her surprise is." 

Aaron laughed. "Vic's awful at surprises and you know it. She's probably making a massive cake or something like that." 

Robert just rolled his eyes fondly and reached for his phone. "I'm going to laugh so hard when you and Adam are proved wrong." 

Aaron resisted the urge to chuck his digital clock at Robert's head. Instead, he snuggled down into the mattress to tuck the duvet under his chin.

"Coffee?" 

"Ta." Aaron nodded and started his morning routine of scrolling through his social media. There was lovely picture of an obviously very drunk Finn on Facebook surrounded by dancers.

There was a sigh from above him. 

"Ah Finn, chic à la geek." Robert murmured, and as his fiancé stared at him with increasing horror, started to hum Katy Perry's 'The One That Got Away'.

"You bastard!" Aaron laughed incredulously. "You're stuck with me for the rest of your goddamn life mate, I hope you know that." 

Robert shrugged. "Eh, marriage is just insurance. Yadda, yadda, yadda..." 

A pillow flew across the bed and smacked the blonde straight in the face.

"Get out!" Aaron tried to yell in a fierce tone but the immense grin plastered over his face took the edge off. "Where's my coffee?" 

"Up your arse, my darling." Robert smiled sweetly and picked up the offending pillow. "Along with your dignity and my patience." 

-

Chas stops trying to cram her kettle into a cardboard box that's already full of mismatched cutlery and flicks her eyes to the ceiling.

The noise sounded like laughter; the icy winter chill thawed by the genuine happiness radiating from her son's room. But it couldn't be.

After Aaron had ended his marriage to Robert, things had been utterly shit. Charity, being Charity, took pity on the twisted Sugden and had allowed him to stay in Aaron's old room while he found a new place to stay, much to Chas' fury. 

-  
"Get that git out of my house!" She'd screamed at the blonde woman and pointed to Robert who was standing in the hallway- eyes frozen in terror and his hands pulled into fists.

"He has nowhere to go!" Charity had demanded back. "He was family!" 

"I don't care!" Robert had winced. "He's ruined my son's life! AGAIN!"  
-

"Mum?" 

Chas looks up, startled, and her expression quickly softens into a small smile.

"Love?" 

"You alright?" Her son asks and gently walks towards her. 

Aaron's older now but happier, the cancerous weight of Robert flamin' Sugden long gone into the dark depths of Leeds. Liv's gone too, up to Edinburgh University to study Fine Art and Charity was chased from Emmerdale a long time ago by the police- something to do with Ross Barton and more stolen cars. Hotten's finest had grown tired of her family and were slowly milling each member out of the county one by one. She's one of the last.

"I will be once I'm out of here!" She smiles and eventually gets enough brown tape around the box to keep her kettle from bursting from its confinements during transit.

Aaron nods and looks around them at the tiny kitchen and lounge.

"I'll miss this though." Her son whispers and drags his fingers down the back of one of the chairs. The breath catches in her throat as she drops her head onto his shoulder as they both reflect on the happiness, drama and anger that had unfurled in these small back rooms.

"At least you're staying in Emmerdale though." Chas points out, her voice muffled by the material of Aaron's top. Aaron shrugs and sighs deeply.

"Yeah, but it won't be the same. I'll miss you being this close." He argues and rolls his eyes when Chas chuckles and stands up straight. "What?" 

"Nothing." She placates and holds up her hands. "Absolutely nothing, love. It's going to be weird not having you this close for me too. But I need this, Aaron, you know that." 

A ghost of a smile edges over his lips. "I know, Mum. I do." 

They glance at each other for a heartbeat before Chas clears her throat and taps the top of the box with a fingernail.

"Last one." 

Aaron gathers it into his arms and disappears out the back door to hand it to Cain who was standing chatting to Debs in the moving truck.

Chas exhales heavily and looks around her home for one last time. She's left some mugs in the cupboard for the new landlady as a welcome present/thanks for buying my pub so quickly present. They're the mugs she can't bare to take with her to her new house: the mug she was drinking from when Adam called in her a garbled, frantic voice about the road accidents, the mug that was on the table waiting to be washed up when she found out that Gennie had died, the same mug that had been on the draining board when Aaron told her everything about Gordon, the mug she'd been washing up when Aaron burst through the doors in an absolute state after he'd ended things with Rob...

The tears take her by surprise. She shouldn't be sad, not really. It's the end of an era for her, for them. After her car pulls away, it will only be Aaron, Debbie and Cain left in Emmerdale: out of the Dingle clan. Out of the mental clan.

A small part of her will miss the pub, the noise of the patrons, the noise of her family in every room. But a bigger part of her still loathes these walls and the scarring, haunting memories they hold. Her son was married here. Her son broke down here. She lived her life here. She nearly ended someone's life here.

With a sniff, she surveys the rooms for one last time and the words tumble off her lips.

"Thank you, but you hurt too much now."

She lets herself out and as the latch clicks to a close, the mad reign of Chastity and Charity Dingle ends.  
Shadows swoop down around the bricks, and silence falls for one last time.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, that spiralled quickly. 
> 
> I love Chas and I don't think there are enough fics from her point of view, so here you go. A little twist!
> 
> I'm not going to comment on our fandom at the moment. What I will say is: together. That's the best thing we can be right now.
> 
> It's cloudy and dull here. I hope the sun is shining wherever you are.
> 
> WritingYay :)


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